Cheryl's Notes:

I need to start out with a message to my coworkers. After 31 years you can take the girl out of the company, but you cannot take the company out of the girl. Today I almost fell overboard again trying to grab the camera and take a picture. I saw a train going by with cars marked with our CHS logo. How lame is that?

We have forgotten to mention that we have had several Dora sightings in the past few days. It seems that she is traveling the canal ahead of us. We have seen her on upper balconies in a bikini and a couple of times waving from docks on the water front. I was able to get one picture of her and will add it to our gallery. Tom was a little jealous when he noticed her with another man, and the new guy had some really nice abs.

We slept in this morning and took our first real showers in four days. We headed east with Amsterdam planned as our final destination for the night. We had seen pictures in the guidebook that showed a beautiful waterfront and it listed nearby shops and sites to see. The public landing was complete with showers and a laundry. Reality, again has bit us in the a$$. We pulled up and found out that the water main to the marina broke and everything is shut down. There are no little shops that we can find, but we have found the Professional Wrestlers Hall of Fame. It was closed by the time we docked, and we haven't decided if it is worth sticking around for part of the morning tomorrow.

We are almost at the end of the canal. We should be able to make the final locks tomorrow and then we will head to a marina to re-step the mast. We have decided to forego the do it yourself yard in favor of an experienced and staffed marina. Will be heading to Catskill, NY.

John's Notes:

Well, we are in Amsterdam. The last time I was in Amsterdam, Canal Street had cat houses about every twenty feet. Oh, wrong Amsterdam. This poor place doesn't even have a downtown. Well, they used to but it looks like it closed up several years ago.

I have forgotten to mention that Ball-2, one of our primary fenders, took a couple of high hard ones for the team a few days ago against a couple of old crumbling canal walls. Sort of got the wind knocked out of it. I have been trying for a couple of days to find a gas station close enough to pump a little air in him. Thought I was on to something this afternoon when we got here. The guy who runs (if that is what you can call it) the dock said that I could just walk around the back of the building and down to the end of the next building and cross at the light and there was a gas station there. Well, depending on your prospective, that appeared to be about a mile away. Ball-2 will just have to tough it out for another day or so.